Audley Shaw’s less-famous twin

Audrea Shaw-Green still has cups and other paraphernalia she was given as a child during the 1962 Independence celebrations.

Though she was 10 years old at the time, she recalls the happenings vividly, the excitement etched in the mind of the now 70-year-old.

The Manchester native recounted the lowering of the Union Jack, which had been flying in Jamaica since 1655, and the hoisting of the Jamaican flag, a symbol of rebirth.

She and other students were in the quadrangle at Christiana Leased School witnessing the parish’s own piece of history.

“We had to stand at attention, and we were used to the Union Jack and the ‘God save our gracious Queen’, then all of a sudden you see, ‘Eternal Father bless our land’.

“We had a hard time, but we learned it. We were flogged to learn the national anthem and the pledge,” she said, with a laugh.

But for the then 10-year-old, “the nice part” of the celebrations was being gifted plates and cups with the words ‘Jamaica Independence, August 6, 1962’ engraved.

“They gave us a treat and told us we were now independent, and they taught us as to what independence was, so that is an unforgettable experience, and it was then, the first time I saw the Honourable Bustamante – a very tall man.

“He drove by and waved to us on this open-back car and we were so thrilled,” she said in a Gleaner interview at her home in Denham Farm, Manchester.

Shaw-Green is the twin sister of evergreen politician Audley Shaw, the Transport and Mining Minister and member of parliament for Manchester North East. She said her wish for Jamaica’s 60th anniversary of Independence is to see a reduction in crime. She also hopes more parenting seminars could be held to tackle social woes within the home.

Shaw-Green still cherishes fond childhood memories at a family-operated bread shop in Christiana in the parish. Gathering wood for fire around Christmas was also a favourite adventure.

She shared, however, that life wasn’t always easy. On Christiana’s many rainy days, when the wood got wet, putting a damper on breakfast preparations and ruining efforts to iron her uniforms for school.

Shaw-Green’s dad rode a bike every day to and from his job at Brumalia House, while her mom worked at the J.C. Miller store in Christiana, which was eventually bought by the family and renamed Shaw’s Bread Shop.

“People thought we were rich,” Shaw-Green quipped.

She spokwe highly of her political veteran sibling, with whom she said she has always shared a close bond.

They went to preschool, and infant and primary school together until grade five before being ultimately separated after sitting the then Common Entrance Examinations. They reunited on their scholastic journey at university overseas before returning home.

“He was always protective of me, and he always felt he was older than me. He was 10 minutes older, and he keeps reminding everyone. I had this joy growing up with him,” she said.

Audrea and Audley are the youngest of six siblings. The family tree was dealt a hard blow with the death of their sister, who succumbed to COVID-19 in 2020.

But life with a much more popular twin has its challenges in the cut-and-thrust of Jamaican politics. Shaw-Green said she has been marginalised and suffered physical abuse on one occasion because of a political vendetta targeting her brother.

“People marginalise me, ‘because your brother a politician, you can get this, you can get that’. Half of the time my brother doesn’t even know what I’m doing. To you, he’s a politician, but to me, he’s my brother,” Shaw-Green said.

“I’ve had a rough time. I’ve been abused. I remember I sat in a van, and he was young in politics at the time and a man just came up to me and use his hand and pitched my head backwards, and he started to hurl all sorts of abusive language at me. I was so frightened,” she recalled.

But on another note, Shaw-Green told The Gleaner that people, especially in her community, have been respectful.

When quizzed if she too harboured dreams of venturing into politics, she responded sharply: “Never! ... I don’t know how he manages it, you know. I could not manage.”

Shaw-Green, a veteran educator, retired as vice-principal after 40 years in teaching. She has received the Prime Minister’s Medal of Appreciation for long service to education and numerous awards from the Jamaica Teachers’ Association and the Association of Principals and Vice-Principals.

Also a justice of the peace with training in social work and human resource management, Shaw-Green said she is committed to humanitarian causes. She has also been awarded by several community and charity-based organisations.

Amid myriad woes encountered in teaching, Shaw-Green said that her love for children kept her grounded in the profession.

“I would never switch teaching for anything. If I could live my life over, that would be my profession,” she said.

olivia.brown@gleanerjm.com